10 reasons to visit Verona

Ciao tutti! Continuing the story of our trip to Italy, here are ten reasons why Verona is worth a visit.

1. Verona is a beautiful city. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of all its historical buildings.

2. Verona is (thanks to Shakespeare) one of the most romantic cities in Europe. You can skip Juliet's balcony, though. There's not much to see and too many tourists.

3. Verona at night is very charming or even enchanting. Take a walk along its streets and just look around. The lighting at night really accentuates the architecture. And don't forget to sit down at a one of the many cafés and restaurants.

4. Arena di Verona is an old Roman amphitheatre. The second largest in the world in fact. Only the Colosseum in Rome is bigger. Every summer they perform Operas in the Arena. My humans went to see Carmen but Julius and I decided to explore the local pastry shops instead.

Arena di Verona

5. Lots of attractions. Castelvecchio with its beautiful museum it definitely worth a visit. There are also plenty of Basilicas and other medieval and Roman things.

Me on the Castelvecchio bridge

Julius ended up on the wrong side of the bars in Castelvecchio

6. The view from Castello San Pietro. The castle sits on a hill on the eastern bank of the river Adige overlooking the old town. You can walk or take a cable car. A perfect place to bring a bottle of wine and enjoy the sunset.

Evening vies from Castel San Pietro

7. Location. Verona is close to Lake Garda and has good and cheap connections to other interesting places like Milan, Bolzano, Venice, Bologna etc.

8. Good food (Like everywhere in Italy...) like for example pizza places where you can choose between dozen of different pizzas and pay by weight. My humans particularly liked a pizzeria named Paolo e Rosetta on Piazza Corrubbio. Another positive thing is that you don´t need to know any Italian to order - just point at the one (or two, or three slices...) you want. È delizioso!

9. Good shopping. Start from Arena di Verona and continue along Via Giuseppe Mazzini where most of the boutiques are located. By the way, summer sales or Saldi start the first Saturday of July in all of Italy. We arrived just in time.

10. Sometimes being short is a good thing. When you walk around the streets of Verona you can't help but notice all the fossilised seashells in the pavements. Julius and I had another competition to see who could spot the most. Naturalmente, I won.

A la prossima!